Early Careers Stories

Steps taken: from Paralegal to Graduate Lawyer

Thu, 28 May 2026 02:00:00 +0000

By Sean Kempel

I would be lying if I said that I did not have my doubts stepping into a paralegal role. I wondered: am I the right fit for the role? Will I be able to meet expectations? Will I be able to handle the work? All these questions were unfounded, but – then again – were compounded by the fact that I started with Hall & Wilcox in January 2022 when Australia was going through another COVID outbreak.

It didn’t take long for these questions to go away and for me to find my place and footing within the firm.

The Process

Applications can be a daunting thing. There are many uncertainties. What will be required of me? What questions will be asked? Do I have all the necessary documents to even submit an application?

Thankfully, the process of applying was straight forward. Through an online application, all I had to do was answer a few questions and submit a few documents. Simple.

After some time, I was invited to attend an interview. Calling it an ‘interview’ is a bit of a stretch, as it wasn’t that intimidating. I imagine interviews to be the fielding of questions and answers. This ‘interview’ felt more like a getting-to-know-you if anything. It felt as though Hall & Wilcox was more interested in my character than my answers. This was a breath of fresh air as it felt like a natural conversation.

After the application process was all said and done, I was honoured to receive a call (on my Danish mobile number, of course) informing and congratulating me that I had been accepted to become a Law Graduate with Hall & Wilcox.

What's next?

Over the past few months, I have become familiar with what it means to be a Law Graduate with Hall & Wilcox.

Stepping into the graduate role was a fantastic experience. So far, I’ve had the experience to meet other graduates across the country, establish a network of connections and contacts and become engrossed in fulfilling pro bono work. I’ve also had my professional skills and tools sharpened to help me succeed as a lawyer.

Coincidentally, it just so happened that my first rotation as a Law Graduate was also with SIQ, where I had worked as a Paralegal previously. You might be wondering how my role has differed.

Essentially, my role with SIQ was more substantive. A day-to-day for me consists of visiting and talking with clients, drafting advices, researching and analysing personal injury law and participating in on negotiations or mediations. What I enjoy most about my current rotation is that each file I work on paints a different story.

I have since finished my rotation with SIQ and am now rotating through the Corporate & Commercial team. Jumping from the insurance side of Hall & Wilcox to the corporate side has been incredibly fruitful as I have had the opportunity to see and experience how different areas of the law function. Previously, I was working with claims. Now, I work with companies.

Being able to work in a variety of practice areas and industries has made me eager and excited for what else lies ahead during my graduate year.

Our People - Charlie Renney's story

Thu, 28 May 2026 02:00:00 +0000

Your roots and educational experiences inform who you are and what you stand for and likely equip you better for your graduate year than you first might think.

What's your job about?

I am currently a graduate lawyer at Hall & Wilcox and am rotating through the Firm’s Property & Projects team. As a grad at Hall & Wilcox, I have also rotated through a number of other teams including Commercial Dispute Resolution, Banking, and Financial Services and Tax.

What does a Grad do while rotating through these teams?

Just about everything! Regardless of the team you’re in, Grads at Hall & Wilcox are involved in everything from going to court to meeting clients, preparing advices, liaising with barristers and attending business development functions and events all while working directly with the partners and senior lawyers.

More specifically, in our Property & Projects team, I have been involved in preparing contracts for major construction projects, assisting with litigated property disputes, helping to draft all kinds of unusual leases and assisting with significant transfers and acquisitions of property. No two days are ever the same and I love being given the opportunity to work on a wide variety of matters for different and interesting clients.

Hall & Wilcox also recognizes that your graduate year is all about learning the skills of being a lawyer so there are near constant workshops, seminars and guest presentations for graduates to get involved in. These range from practical things like effective time recording and efficient research all the way up to presentations from leading industry experts and even having a go a presenting on a chosen topic yourself. In my experience, the more of this stuff you do right at the start the much easier your graduate year becomes.

What's your background?

Have you heard of Berriwillock? Not many people have. It is a tiny town in rural Victoria where I grew up. My parents are farmers, and I spent my childhood helping out on the farm, playing sports, and attending the local school. In Year 9, I started boarding school in Ballarat and finally commenced my Law/Commerce Degree at Monash University in 2014.

For people from the city, it probably seems strange for kids to go off to boarding school, but for me, it was one of the most important experiences in my life. I had fantastic teachers who opened my eyes to the importance of working not only harder but also smarter and taking on opportunities as they arise. These attitudes ultimately helped me to get into university and inform how I conduct myself at work every day.

I was a seasonal clerk at Hall & Wilcox in December 2017 and was fortunate enough to be accepted into their graduate program in 2019 after finishing my final year at university. I rely on the skills and attitudes that I picked up at boarding school and university every single day. I also love meeting new people and talking to colleagues about their work and to clients about their businesses—something I attribute to growing up in a close-knit country town and being actively involved in my local community where everyone was always up for a chat.

To anyone applying for graduate jobs, I would really encourage you not to forget your roots and educational experiences. They inform who you are and what you stand for and likely equip you better for your graduate year than you first might think.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

I was the first person in my immediate family to finish high school and the first to go to university and into the corporate world. If I can do it, anyone can do it. But don’t think for a second that those opportunities just fall in your lap. If you have gotten to this stage and are looking at graduate jobs, you’re clearly intelligent, but unfortunately, that doesn’t quite cut it.

You have to be proactive. Put time and effort into your resume and elevator pitch, and be willing to shake hands and meet new people who may one day be your boss. Applying for graduate jobs is essentially trying to sell who you are and the skills and attitudes you possess to potential employers. Give yourself the best advertising possible by doing all the little extra things to market yourself properly—they really add up.

What's the coolest thing about your job?

Hearing back from happy clients! When you are a junior, it can be hard to keep a big picture view of why you do the work you do. As lawyers, clients only come to us when they have a problem in their lives or business that they don’t know how to fix, and usually it is the biggest and most stressful issue going on in their lives.

When clients write back to the firm saying that the advice you worked on was really helpful or the transaction you assisted with turned out to be a big success, it hits home how much the work we do really matters for people. It isn’t just words on a page or lines in an email—everything you do is read, listened to, and relied on by someone who needs your assistance, which means you should take real pride in your work. That is by far the coolest thing about my job.

What are the limitations of your job?

You don’t know what you don’t know. What does that mean? It means that the law is so complex and constantly evolving that you will never know everything. But, through trial and error, you will get better at spotting issues and dealing with red flags. After all, you know how to go about researching the answer; it is just that sometimes you will need guidance from someone more experienced to point the red flag out to you. As long as you remember those hints and tips and learn from your mistakes, you will be fine.

Three pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...

Make it easier for yourself; leaving assignments until the last minute is tempting, but it only causes stress down the track. Stay on top of your work, and it will teach you great juggling skills for when you finally start your career and have lots of competing tasks to manage.
Meet new people—break out of your group of high school friends that ended up at the same university as you. You will meet amazing people from all over Australia and the world, and you will be surprised how often you bump into them once you start your career.
Back yourself—the only person who can get you where you want to go is you. Be bold—apply for that job, position, or opportunity and actively pursue it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, so you’re silly if you don’t give it a go.

Embracing unconventional paths: a law graduate’s journey

Thu, 28 May 2026 08:40:04 +0000

As someone with a background in the creative arts field, if you had told me five years ago that I would be working as a lawyer at a commercial law firm, I might not have believed you! But I have recently joined our Banking & Financial Services team and am loving it, after completing a grad year at Hall & Wilcox with amazing people from all kinds of backgrounds and rotating through three of our commercial practice teams: Corporate & Commercial, Property & Projects and Banking & Financial Services.

What is your background?

I spent my childhood in a city called Nanchang in China before migrating to Australia in grade three. After moving to Australia, I lived in a few places between North Melbourne and the western suburbs of Melbourne and eventually completed my education at University High School. Coming out of high school, my favourite subjects were English, media, and legal studies so I decided to split the difference and do an undergrad in arts, majoring in creative writing and media and communications at the University of Melbourne. I saved the law for later and completed the JD at UniMelb in 2021. Throughout uni, I worked at a boutique web design company called Jin & Co, and also volunteered at a community legal startup called Anika Legal, which provides legal services to vulnerable renters in Victoria.

At the end of the JD, I didn’t go through the clerkship process and wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to work at a commercial law firm. However, one of the co-founders of Anika Legal and a lawyer in Hall & Wilcox’s pro bono team, Dan Poole, told me about an opportunity to apply for a grad role at Hall & Wilcox, so I thought I’d give it a go.

At the risk of sounding like I’m ‘not like other lawyers’, coming into the firm as a grad, I felt like I took a pretty unconventional path into commercial law. I was quite self-conscious of the fact that I didn’t have a commerce degree nor any prior experience working at a law firm. However, I quickly found that Hall & Wilcox embraces people with different backgrounds and has cultivated a culture which encourages me to stay true to myself and be open-minded to new experiences. You won’t be expected to know everything, and Hall & Wilcox recognises that your grad year is all about learning. You’ll not only learn on the job in your practice areas but also general lawyerly skills through regular workshops and seminars about things like legal research, drafting and business development.

What was life like as a law graduate at Hall & Wilcox?

Even though I rotated through what most may think are ‘transactional’ or ‘front-end’ teams, I was lucky in that Hall & Wilcox’s practices are so varied even within teams, that I was exposed to all kinds of work beyond just what a transactional lawyer might do, including litigious and advisory work.

In our Corporate & Commercial team, there were the usual deals and acquisitions which were exciting and fast-paced, where I helped with reviewing and drafting contracts and corporate documents and sitting in on negotiations. But the Corporate & Commercial team also has an IP/IT practice and a sports law practice, where I helped on matters like cross-border trade marks disputes and an AFL media rights deal.

In my second rotation, in Property & Projects, I assisted with property and lease transactions, as well as construction projects and disputes. I also did a lot of litigious work with the property team’s planning and environmental law practice, involving town planning and environmental law disputes. Some of this work included drafting court submissions, researching case law, liaising with barristers, and sitting in on VCAT hearings involving developers, town councils and government departments.

Finally, in the Banking & Financial services team, I’m involved in transactions involving major lenders, borrowers, and investment funds, drafting complex and interesting advice to banks and superannuation companies, as well as regulatory and compliance work involving financial service providers and regulators like ASIC. I also had the opportunity to go on a two-week secondment to a fund manager during my grad rotation.

As an additional part of my role, I’m involved in Hall & Wilcox’s China Practice, which is a cross-practice team within the firm, servicing Chinese clients with a range of legal matters including financial services, banking, property and dispute resolution.

I loved the variety of work during my grad year, and this put me in a great position to decide where I wanted to go – going forward – and where I fit in. You may find it surprising given my background that I ultimately chose to stay in our Banking & Financial Services team. However, I found the complex and ever-changing nature of financial services law and policy interesting, and I was drawn to the advisory and drafting work in the team, which scratched a creative writing itch within me. The firm’s China practice also made me feel that I could put my cultural background into some of my work.

Throughout the year, I was also involved in pro bono work, which is an important part of practice for me, having worked at a community legal organisation and seeing first-hand how rewarding that kind of work can be. This included our Melbourne grad cohort spending a day helping at a camp for young people with disabilities.

Speaking of my grad cohort, I have been fortunate enough to get to know many amazing people during my grad year. But this extends beyond my grad cohort and team. There are many opportunities to meet and connect with people from all across the firm as well as externally, not only through your work, but through regular social and sporting events like netball, tennis, lawn bowls, and art exhibitions, to name just a few.

think it is important to keep your mind open to a range of experiences during your grad year. You will meet all kinds of different people and be exposed to all kinds of different work. You never know what you will end up liking until you try it, and you will be surprised at how many seemingly unrelated skills you have picked up throughout your educational and professional careers may come in handy during practice.

Four things I’ve loved about working as a graduate in insurance law

Fri, 29 May 2026 02:00:00 +0000

I am a graduate here at Hall & Wilcox in Perth, and have just completed my first rotation of three. This one was in Insurance Recoveries, a team that assists insurers and their insureds to recover any losses incurred as a result of the actions of someone else.

My experience within the Insurance WA team here has been overwhelmingly positive, showing me that it is a very underrated practice area with a world of opportunities. Before starting my graduate year with Hall & Wilcox, I felt unsure about what to expect or what a career in insurance law really looked like.

While I had received a brief introduction to the practice area through an elective at university, I found that insurance law wasn’t talked about or highlighted as much as other areas of legal practice, and it felt little known by my fellow classmates.

Before moving into my next rotation, I wanted to reflect on my observations and what I’ve loved most about working in the Insurance WA team.

Interesting and rewarding work

Throughout my time in the Insurance WA team, I’ve had the opportunity to complete work on a range of matters that have a real impact on people, not just companies. This includes everything from assisting insurers and insured people to recover their losses from a motor vehicle accident to helping families and business owners to rebuild and start over again after losing their homes or property in a fire. Not only is the work varied, but having the opportunity to work in an industry that can help people pick themselves up again after being knocked down is incredibly rewarding and one of my favourite parts about working in the Insurance WA team.

As a graduate at Hall & Wilcox, I am often given the opportunity to attend court with the lawyers in my team, as well as to complete many different practical, hands-on tasks, under the supervision of my mentor and team leader, such as drafting letters, speaking to clients, taking witness statements, drafting court forms, completing research, reviewing documentary evidence and assisting in preparing advice to clients. This is all very exciting, interesting and valuable experience that I’ll be able to lean on throughout my career.

The relationships

The Hallmarks of Hall & Wilcox help to create a very warm, open and supportive culture that translates into our work and client relationships. While with the Insurance WA team, I’ve been able to witness the close, longstanding and positive relationships my team members hold with their clients and how this helps to resolve matters quickly and on the best terms possible for all parties. Many of our insurance clients are sophisticated legal professionals themselves, and take a commercial approach to resolving disputes. These attributes have made participating in client interactions and conferences as a graduate a very unique, insightful and enjoyable experience.

Internally, as a graduate at Hall & Wilcox, I work closely with my mentor, supervisor and team members and am often given the opportunity to attend the many networking and professional development events that are available to lawyers. I am encouraged to learn, try new things and build on my skills regularly within a very supportive team environment.

Being able to work in a variety of practice areas and industries has made me eager and excited for what else lies ahead during my graduate year.

Great work-life balance

Working closely with insurers often means that work is confined to business hours, making it much easier to predict your workload and maintain a positive work-life balance. While not exclusive to the Insurance WA team, the respect for work-life balance is also reflected in the culture and support that you are given at Hall & Wilcox.

The firm takes an active approach in ensuring that each person is well supported and can uphold a life outside of work. This has made entering my graduate year and learning to balance full-time work with maintaining social and outside commitments and completing my Practical Legal Training a much easier and natural task.

My next rotation with Hall & Wilcox is in the Private Clients team, assisting business owners, trustees, families and individuals on many different matters related to their personal affairs. I am looking forward to this and the many different opportunities to come. Notwithstanding, I feel fortunate to have been able to work with the Insurance WA Recoveries team and look forward to learning more about insurance law and its different speciality areas throughout my graduate year.

Seasonal clerks: what we learned and what we bring to the legal profession

Fri, 29 May 2026 02:00:00 +0000

Keeping an open mind, trying everything on offer and learning how to put legal theory into practice: these are just some of the valuable insights our seasonal clerks gained during their time working at Hall & Wilcox.

We spoke to some of the clerks to get their views about what they learned, why it’s worth putting in a clerkship application, and what their generation will bring as future leaders in the legal profession.

What did you learn during your clerkship?

Drafting letters to clients, seeing Smarter Law in practice, being immersed in Hall & Wilcox’s famed culture and joining sport teams were just some of the highlights for Ben Pohl, who was a seasonal clerk in our Melbourne office.

‘I learnt valuable skills transferrable to any legal workplace,’ he said.

‘I also learnt that Hall & Wilcox genuinely practices what it preaches when it comes to culture. From the beginning, I was made to feel like a genuine part of the firm. I was welcomed to both the ‘Multi-Sport’ and ‘Futsal’ teams. I saw familiar faces at breakfast and Friday night drinks and I did not at any stage feel like I was a “temporary employee” on a clerkship. Rather I felt like an ingrained part of the team, somewhere that I felt a real sense of belonging.’

Niky Parry, who was a seasonal clerk in our Perth office, loved learning about all the different parts of the client journey.

‘I was able to learn the practical side of an area of law that I hadn’t experienced before, be directly involved in various aspects of legal work, and attend meetings with the partners and lawyers.’

Hinal Mandalia, another Perth seasonal clerk, believes it is vital that clerks are open to new opportunities and embracing challenges with a ‘growth-oriented’ mindset.

‘I was exposed to a range of legal matters and tasks, from legal research and drafting letters, to attending conciliations and client meetings. Each task provided me with the opportunity to learn and grow.’

Ali Alansari, who clerked in our Melbourne office, learned to adapt quickly to different practice areas and acquired the ability to conduct thorough legal research efficiently.

‘I had the opportunity to work on a wide range of challenging matters that spanned different areas of law. This exposure allowed me to develop a versatile skill set and a comprehensive understanding of various legal frameworks both inside and outside of Australia.’

Anthony Khalil was impressed by Hall & Wilcox’s culture, seeing both the firm’s five Hallmarks and Smarter Law approach being put into practice by all at the firm.

‘Hall & Wilcox is a firm where development of all employees is central and is leveraged to guarantee better client service. It is very clear that Hall & Wilcox is a successful firm that is committed to delivering high-quality legal solutions. As a growing firm, [Managing Partner] Tony Macvean centralised the idea of junior employees getting involved in the development of the firm.’

What will your generation bring to the legal profession?

This generation of lawyers is the first that has grown up surrounded by technology and social media. All five seasonal clerks agreed this generation will be well equipped to handle the challenges and work created by technology.

‘My generation, having grown up in the digital age, is proficient at using technology to enhance efficiency and streamline processes. The advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation will see these technologies play a significant role in legal research, document drafting and document review. My generation will be able to adapt to these changes with ease, transforming and modernising the profession,’ says Hinal Mandalia.

Ali Alansari agreed this generation brings a fresh perspective and innovative approach to the legal profession. ‘We are a generation that has grown up in the digital age, where technology has transformed the way we live and work. Our technological acumen means that we can excel in the new age of providing legal services, while also having the contemporary knowledge to protect the business from external interference and hacking.’

Another area of importance to this generation is diversity. Ben Pohl says providing opportunities to all people to follow their desired career path is something this generation will push for.

Ali Alansari agrees: ‘We are passionate about promoting equality and fairness within the legal system. By advocating for inclusivity and actively seeking diverse perspectives, we can contribute to a more equitable and representative legal profession.’

Should I apply for a clerkship?

The answer from all five clerks is an overwhelming yes!

‘Do it!’ says Niky Parry. ‘The clerkship program is more than just learning about a practice area. It is an opportunity to learn about the firm and to see if it is the right fit for you.’

‘A clerkship offers much more than just the theory learned in law school. The hands-on nature of a clerkship gave me the opportunity to transition the theoretical concepts I learned at university to real world scenarios, allowing me to understand the practical implications of the law,’ says Hinal Mandalia.

‘The lawyers I worked with were not only knowledgeable and experienced but also genuinely invested in my development. I received guidance, feedback and mentorship that significantly contributed to my growth as a legal professional,’ says Ali Alansari.

‘Make the most of your time, wherever you end up,’ advises Ben Pohl. ‘I had a go at pretty much everything the firm had to offer. I think that by doing so I got a genuine sense of how it is to work at Hall & Wilcox. A month sounds like a fairly long time at the beginning of the clerkship, but it absolutely flew by and, before I knew it, we were finished.’

‘I would highly recommend a clerkship at Hall & Wilcox,’ says Anthony Khalil. ‘The ongoing level of support, mentorship and learning opportunities I experienced during my clerkship will no doubt be very helpful for future practice. The clerkship program has been well developed to ensure clerks are exposed and involved with all aspects of the firm, from exposure to the work the firm engages in to social activities.’

From Melbourne to Brisbane and back again: how I became a lawyer

Fri, 29 May 2026 02:00:00 +0000

By Jordan Beveridge

Hi! I’m Jordan Beveridge, a first-year lawyer at Hall & Wilcox in Melbourne.

After completing a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Criminology at La Trobe University in December 2022, I headed north toward the sunshine state for a sea change and relocated to Brisbane in February 2023 to commence my graduate year at Hall & Wilcox.

Small, but propelled by a strong sense of collegiality, the Brisbane graduate cohort of five flew down to the Melbourne office in the program’s first week to meet our national cohort. Those three days were jam-packed with informative and thoughtful learning and development sessions, giving us a real taste of the firm’s strong culture, which our colleagues embody every day - genuine, forward-thinking and approachable. And it wasn’t all work; plenty of social activities were woven into our schedule so we could bond. Building these authentic and robust relationships with each other truly reflects the firm’s core values, known as Hallmarks, ‘stay true’, ‘be remarkable’, ‘respect respect’, ‘evolve always’ and ‘better together’.

Week two saw us offsite at College of the Law to complete the Practical Legal Training (PLT) ‘intensive week’. You’re fully supported by partners, mentors and the firm as you juggle competing deadlines between client work and PLT assessments.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed, by week three, we were introduced to, and warmly welcomed by, the team of our first rotation. Starting off in Commercial Dispute Resolution (CDR), I predominantly worked on insolvency and restructuring matters and assisted in multiple public interest litigation files. As a snapshot, I drafted various correspondence, prepared written advice to clients and memorandums of advice for counsel and prepared court books ahead of trials. My time in CDR became even more memorable when I found myself flanked by King’s Counsel and Junior Counsel walking into the Federal Court of Australia in Melbourne as an instructing solicitor!

Time flies when you’re having fun, and in the blink of an eye, it was July, marking my second rotation in Property & Projects. What stood out to me was the team’s knack for exceeding client expectations. The team acts for a range of clients whose operations range from local to international across the government, large-scale development and mining and resources sectors. Hall & Wilcox prides itself on offering cross-practice and cross-office service, providing graduates like me with opportunities to collaborate with partners nationwide, gaining valuable insights into niche areas of the law. My tasks included attending property settlements, preparing transactional documents for retail and commercial leasing, as well as drafting deeds for land acquisitions and easement lodgements over parcels of land in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

November rolled around in no time, signalling the start of my last rotation—a unique split between Corporate & Commercial and Pro Bono & Community. While I continued to work on pro bono matters throughout the graduate program, rotating through Pro Bono & Community saw me spend two days per week as a secondee at the LGBTI Legal Service and Caxton Legal Service. Alongside gaining legal experience on pro bono matters, I had the opportunity to make a material difference in the lives of society’s most vulnerable individuals through these community legal centres. In my remaining time, I assisted the Corporate & Commercial team in drafting various transactional, ASX and ASIC documents, as well as advices for companies before their initial public offering.

I had an exceptional graduate experience at Hall & Wilcox; the firm’s point of difference truly is the flexible working nature that’s been embedded into its culture. So much so, after an amazing opportunity presented itself, I recently settled in Melbourne’s CDR team. Living closer to family and friends and being back in this beautiful, lively city — oh, and having access to some of the best drops of coffee one ever did taste — are just a few of the ancillary perks.

Much like my experience as a student at La Trobe’s Law School, Hall & Wilcox supports its lawyers and ensures everyone is set on the path for success. I strongly encourage all La Trobe penultimate law students to consider applying for a clerkship position at Hall & Wilcox.